Road to History: What the Lions must do to lose to Washington

I was completely serious when I suggested that the best thing that could happen to the Lions and their fans this season would be to become the first team to finish 0-16 in a season. Every Friday, I will start breaking down exactly how the Lions can go about losing each game in this historic season. Unless they win. Which would pretty much ruin all of my plans for content for the rest of football season.

This week, the Washington Redskins come to town. After the break, let's see what kind of crazy can happen.

So, what's gonna happen when a team with the third best rushing offense in the league and a quarterback who has not thrown an interception through seven games matches up against a team that is second to last in the league in rushing defense and has intercepted just one pass in six games?

The Lions defense has already allowed career days to up-and-coming quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Kyle Orton, allowed rookie Matt Ryan to be pretty comfortable in his first NFL start, given J.T. O'Sullivan some revenge and refused to let Matt Schaub fumble the game back to them against Houston.

Jason Campbell is arguably better than any quarterback in that group, so my guess is that Washington will put this game away early through the passing game.

But we need to look beyond the X's and O's here. Whether Washington throws or runs, Detroit can't stop them. This we know. But what can the Lions do that no one has ever seen before?

They are off to a good start this week. Rod Marinelli benched rookie right tackle Gosder Cherilus (who was picked ahead of two higher rated tackles that were still on the board, but that is irrelevant now) before last week's game against Houston. Cherilus didn't play particularly well or poorly in his starts, but Marinelli demands satisfaction and wanted the rookie to make sure he knows his place.

Then, after watching Larry "Flinch" Foster get two more false start penalties against the Texans, Cherilus is going back in. If there's one thing that can help a young player's confidence, it is jerking him in and out of the lineup with little explanation.

This is good for our historic purposes, though. They can yo-yo Cherilus in and out of the lineup all year and make him into another wasted first round pick. Look out for that pass rush Orlovsky!